How Sez Sees It

When the rules don't make a lot of sense Yesterday I did my first full day back on the campus I work at. I felt totally safe being there and I have to say that the University has done an amazing job making the campus covid-19 safe. The measures include: Additional temporary buildings and toilets Hand sanitiser everywhere Free masks for staff and an expectation that everyone wears one around every building Spaced out bus stops at the terminal on site Limited numbers in toilets and kitchen areas One way system everywhere Not once did I feel like I would be in danger and I was spaced apart from colleagues the whole time. I really enjoyed being back at my place of work and it helped me to separate home and work life. This morning we are being told that we might have to start working from home more by the Government and as I write we are waiting to see what Boris Johnson has to say about things. The hints at the moment are that we should be working from home where possible and yet we ca...

Back to the office and I like it Today I am back on campus and in an office. I say that because it is not my own office, but it is close enough and I am so happy to be back!  It isn’t like I was furloughed or not working at all during the last six months, but there is nothing like actually being on site. You get to have all these spontaneous conversations and already this morning I have managed to sort out so many issues that I just couldn’t do at home. Being in a socially distanced office is also great because there is nothing like physically being with people. You can get by with video calling someone, but it doesn’t feel the same as actually being with people.  I will admit to being quite nervous about coming back at first, but after I got here and saw other people here I realised that it was actually going to work really well and I was just so happy to have a little bit of normal come back. Hopefully it will last. I know there are talks about a full country two week lock d...

When I take part in GISH I am often asked what it is. Even after explaining the acronym of ‘Greatest International Scavenger Hunt’ people still just state in confusion and this has led me to also question ‘what is GISH?’. For this I need to search deeply into my own thoughts on the matter. GISH is both a place and a state of mind. In terms of place it is a creative space where good deeds are done through a series of wild and whacky actions. State of mind varies from moment-to-moment between believing it is the greatest event to take part in ever to wondering what possessed me as it seemed like a good idea at the time to sign up. Hard work is both rewarding when playing GISH, but also leads to unreasonable pain and suffering as materials run out, sleep is lacking and sugar levels run low. GISH becomes a source of joy coupled with excruciating moments of frustration, embarrassment and self-loathing. Only a masacist would keep putting themselves through this process. Like childbirth...

I have worked in admin for all my working life now (full-time working life that should be as I had retail jobs before as a student). There are some things I have picked up on that make life that little bit easier for everyone involved as I think there is still a lack of understanding of what administrators are like. As a breed we are pretty open to new ideas and challenges and we love to be kept busy. We also love to learn new things on the job. There are many reasons why we went in to admin. It could be because we love being organised, we want to help people or we just fell into the job and it works well for us (yeah, that last one is me). Just because we are paid to help though does not mean that we are at the beck and call of all. There are some things that need to be remembered about us. 1. We are paid to help...but... That doesn't mean we are just turning up and doing the bear minimum for the job. We actually enjoy being helpful. Remember what I said earlier, it is one...

There are so many reasons why we need International Women's Day. Here are just a few reasons why this day is so important. Pay gap: Between 1997 and 2015 the pay gap remained the same . As wages appeared to rise the gap stayed the same between men and women. Last year it was reported that the gap was so wide that from 9 November until the end of 2015 women were effectively working for free ! Exact details are hard to put here because there are so many different sources, but the facts in the articles linked above speak for themselves. Rape statistics: Around 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year! That is shocking statistics. The sad fact is that many victims of rape will know their attacker and they are often not strangers. Victim blaming means that many people worry about the reaction of others should they come forward and many more rapes are not reported. Yes it would appear that more women than men are raped and that is very likely the case...

Ever since we have had televisions in bedrooms and mobile phones in our hands at all hours of the day and night the question has been there. Do we get enough sleep? Recent studies suggest we may only get as much sleep as our ancient ancestors did. Apparently with all the looking out for dangerous things sleep was light anyway and that is something that we have kept through evolution. Blue light emitted from televisions and mobile phones is thought to prevent the brain from creating melatonin, which we need to go to sleep. Keeping our brains active later is also not helping. If we read emails and try and work later into the evening we are not giving our brains time to 'switch off'. Also, we tend to panic if we think we are not getting enough sleep. A few times in my life I have been laying awake in bed and worried that I wasn't getting to sleep. Really my body and brain probably didn't need so much sleep that night. Or perhaps I was too worried about something happ...

This is an interesting thought and I guess you could break it down by a number of categories. Where does this thought come from though? Well, last night (Tuesday 27 May 2014) I was at a gig in a small local venue. The genre of music I like is rock/metal/metalcore and last night was the last of the three. I am aware that people like to go a bit crazy at these shows and that is part of the amusement for me, watching other people going at it in the circle pit and wondering how no one ends up being carted off to hospital. Last night was no exception and there were some big lads there who were throwing themselves around, windmilling and kicking in all directions. Then I looked at the rest of the crowd and there were a fair number of women there (it was an 18 plus show, so only us grown ups allowed). The women were not involved and not getting in the pit and then I looked at their faces. One might argue that there was a mixture of bemusement and fear. The fear element was around whethe...

There are times when I have to remind myself that everything gets better. I have a new job to start and before that I am going to Dublin and to see a friend of mine play with his band as support for another band and that should all make me happy and give me something to look forward to right? Wrong. I can't seem to focus on the positive things that are coming up in my life because I am not quite there yet. Those in my immediate are determined to make things as hard as possible. I am not talking my family or friends here either, just the other people you meet every day. Some of them are strangers to me and they fleetingly enter my world, cock something up and go again before they are even registered as existing by me. This leaves me with a strong sense that the whole effort is not worth it. I know I have to hang on to see if things will improve when I have a job and house and whatever. That is sort of keeping me going, but it is tough when you want an easier way out. On to...

I thought I would blog about my week because it makes no sense to me! I have had one hell of a week, so here is a break down of it from Sunday. Sunday: - I had the mother of all flu like colds hit me. I don't remember driving to Southampton or watching the football, although I am told that Saints won. That was a scary thought. I would rather have spent the day in bed. Monday: - I should never have gone into work. I had to drive the entire length of the county and it was horrible. I ended up having to leave at lunch time because I felt so ill. That night I was due to see the wonderful These Days Are Numbered in their first headline show at The Joiners. I dragged my arse up there and I am glad that I did because there was only myself, the fiance and his brother there other than the other bands playing! TDAN were amazing though. They get better every time I see them and I think they are going to be ones to watch in the metalcore scene. I love that they live in Andover too, so it...

That is the word of the day.  Other key words are 'ineffectual' and management.  At the risk of losing my job I can really say no more.  Wouldn't the world be a better place if we were just left to get on with things?